The Way We Live Now - Complete Classics Audiobook by Naxos | Victorian Era Social Satire | Perfect for Book Clubs & Literature Enthusiasts

This was a very well written book, albeit frustrating at times. Despite the fact that it is soooo loooong, if you can be persistent in getting a good start, it moves quite well once you dive in; the characters for the most part are impossible to love, but still likeable. The reasoning and choices that they allow to drive their circumstances are maddening, as is appropriate for social satire. A few characters get exactly what they deserve; most get much better than their just desserts, and a few innocent souls are badly used throughout but manage to seek out something they stoically accept as a version of happiness.I wouldn't say that there is a single real "Happily Ever After" in the story, but there is some justice and some contentment.PG. No language or sex. Mild violence, some of which is domestic violence. Themes include mercenary marriages, spoiled entitled young adults gambling and drinking themselves and their families literally into poverty and eventually into great debts, social manipulation, the appearance vs the reality of wealth, stock market manipulation and business long-cons, petty and grand theft, fraud, forgery, and suicide.